The co-chairman of the Federal Justice Sector and Reform Coordinating Committee of the British Council, Prof. Muhammed Tabiu, has said that a justice system that works would guarantee justice for criminals and ensure the protection of rights of citizens and save the nation from anarchy.
He stated this during his visit to Gombe at the inauguration of the Justice Reform Team.
He said, ’’Unless we have an effective justice system that will ensure that justice is meted out to criminals to ensure that the right of citizens is protected; that will ensure that the machineries of justice is working efficiently, we will continue to face the problem of criminality, which will escalate into outright insecurity in the country.”
Tabiu assured Gombe’s JRT, which comprises the Solicitor General, representatives of security agencies and other non-formal establishments, including human rights, it would promote justice delivery and decongest correctional facilities in the state.
He charged the team to work coherently and in synergy “for the improvement of our justice system. The importance of the team lies in the importance of the reforming of our justice system. We know that in the justice system of Nigeria, we face numerous challenges.
“Many of the social problems that we confront in Nigeria is a reflection that our justice system has a role in finding resolution for them. For example, if we look at the issue of insecurity, we know that there is no time we feel secure without an effective justice system.
“A lot of the problems of insecurity that bedevil this country have to do with acts of criminality and once we begin to talk of controlling criminality, we cannot do that without an effective justice system. It is effective justice system that will control criminality and ensure that those who break the law are brought to justice. When they are brought to justice, the justice system should serve as a reformative for them,” he added.
According to him, the inauguration was the 31st in Nigeria. Tabiu explained: “We form justice sector reform team so that those who are shouldered with the responsibility of ensuring an effective justice system work together because we have a system where justice situation is autonomous. We can only achieve the desired result if we work coherently and in collaboration and cooperation.
“All the formal and non-formal members in the team would work as individual and as representatives of their parent bodies to ensure better justice delivery system,” he said, justifying his position.
“When we feel the law needs reform, we have members of the House of Assembly in our midst; when we feel that investigation is not done well, we have the police with us; when we feel there are obstacles to prosecution, we have the ministry of justice with us; when we feel there is too much delay in court, we have the judiciary with us.
“When we all come together and attack the problem, that is when a difference could be made, this is the reason why we need a justice sector reform team working to improve our justice system,” he said.
He, however, noted that the difficulty of the people coming to work as a team in spite of different orientations and lines of duties may hamper the even discharge of the team’s responsibilities, saying: “likely difficulty to confront the team is the common autonomy in each establishment; all institutions have separate mandate, separate leadership, separate aspirations but collectively we have a goal to improve justice delivery for Nigerians.
“Now, when we have any opportunity like this to come together, we just have to recognise the fact that we cannot achieve much without the coming together of various institutions,” he noted.
Also speaking, the chairman Gombe State House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Musa Buba, expressed that the team would aid justice system and delivery
Buba said, “We are going to look into criminal cases administrative system; whether it’s from the court, whether it’s the correctional facility or the law itself that has some gaps whatever the challenges are, the committee will look into them within the purview of the law and determine way forward and at the end, decongest our prisons and speedy court cases that have to do with civil or criminal.”
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